Complete Stamped Driveway Guide

You may want a brick or stone look for your driveway, without the cost or hassle of wrangling in some brick or stone. Most of us DIY-ers love to save money – and driveway stamping is absolutely a way to achieve ultimate frugality.

When you’re considering stamping your driveway, we present to you a complete guide on the subject. Here we’ll explain driveway stamping in a nutshell, give you some things to think about, and provide tips on conveying your message after selecting the right contractor for the job.

1.Driveway Stamping, Un-Stamped

You may want a brick or stone look for your driveway, without the cost or hassle of wrangling in some brick or stone.

Driveway stamping in definition is a fairly straight-forward process. Stamping is basically imprinting the concrete prior to it setting in order have it resemble real stone or other materials. Concrete contractors love this method over laying real stone slabs, because they are treating a single surface instead of layering several pieces on top of a surface. It’s a fairly quick operation for the contractor, and a money saver for the consumer.

2.Other Options in Treating a Driveway

Stamping is often coupled with driveway staining or driveway coloring, two treatments that help to complete your driveway’s transformation from “concrete contemporary” to “visual visionary” on the Awesome-Meter. Staining helps the concrete resemble artistic marble. It use to be that most driveway stains were gold and brown or green – but nowadays you can get just about any hue your heart desires.

Driveway coloring is by far the easiest method to changing the color of your driveway. By adding the coloring to the mix ahead of time, you’re essentially pouring colored concrete into place. Depending on the look and feel you’re going for, any of these options may be for you.

3.Know Before You Go!

Before you even touch the phone to get ahold of your contractor – make sure you know exactly what you want and can express it with accurate descriptors and dimensions to your professional. What kind of stone/material are you seeking to mimic? Will this driveway be stained or colored, or heck even both? Get specific with your dream.

Contractors who do custom concrete work have more than likely fulfilled a wide variety of requests. There’s no universal image of a “stone-like, stained driveway” and that description leaves a lot to the imagination. Make sure it’s your imagination that makes it underneath your car’s tires – not theirs.

4.Be There to See it Through

Unlike many home improvement projects you may hire out fore, concrete stamping is not one you should afford to miss. A leaky faucet, broken satellite dish – these are all things that require replacement of a part for an identical part. And there are plenty of times you can reschedule a replacement. Not with concrete stamping. As this process is a one-and-go situation, you want to be there providing immediate feedback throughout the process. Contractors want nothing more than to leave you, the client, happy – and the best way to ensure your satisfaction is for you to see your dream take shape in front of your own eyes.

Plus, it’s a cool process! It’ll be fun to see it in action.

NOTE*** It is totally possible for you to do concrete stamping yourself, but we highly recommend you take at least one class on the methods and process before attempting it on your own driveway. Or anyone else’s for that matter!

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